Creating Benches of the High Court

There are a few decisive moments in the life of the people. This is one such moment of unique importance. Mergers of different areas of different States into one State with different administrative and judicial systems, in the wake of States Reorganization in 1956, gave rise to many difficult problems of adjustments. Notions and methods of work of the Judicial Officers and the advocates of each region and, particularly of the princely States, were moulded by the environments and traditions in which they were reared up. People of smaller regions getting merged in larger ones, entertained some apprehensions about the adjustments. Few of the people belonging to the erstwhile Princely State were fortunate enough in getting their" High Courts retained as a Bench of the new High Court, to ensure smooth process of assimilation, with the new judicial system, notwithstanding their merger in larger areas. Demand of this region to that effect, however, could not evoke much response for variety of reasons. People, however, never gave up their demand, for the Bench as inconveniences caused to the litigants being immense apart from the problems of adjustments. The people continued to cherish the dream of having a Bench some day. Maharashtra Legislature had at last done justice to this claim and passed an unanimous resolution to that effect about two years ago. The present Chief Minister and his colleagues have now started implementing the said decision, with unflinching determination. They have still many more miles to cover, for fulfilment of this long cherished dream. Fulfilment of this dream with the blessings and good wishes from all the quarters was almost within sight a few days. We have, however, to remain content today with a truncated Division Court in partial fulfilment of this long cherished dream for reasons known to all. Â This still should not be any occasion for disappointment or frustration, much less for any indignation. An honest object to the formation of a Bench of the High Court in any part of India is based on the genuine apprehension, about the impairment of the quality of justice and the standards in addition to increased arrears and an encouragement to fissiparous tendencies. This oppo-sition can be removed by the demonstration of our actual performance in times to come. There also do exist doubts about our capacity to maintain the standards because of certain prejudices about judicial system ofwhich we are the product. We do not seem to have succeeded in eliminating such prejudices, and creating confidence about our ability to absorb the good traditions of the Bombay High Court. Â These prejudices about the judicial system in the erstwhile Hyderabad State can be demonstrated to be ill-founded. Even under the feudal reign of the Nizam, Nawab Alarn Yar Jung, the then Chief justice of the High Court who also happened to be the Judge of the erstwhile Sadar Adalat of Aurangabad, could demonstrate his independence and courage of conviction, by remonstrating his subordinate Court for not executing a money decree of the Court against a judgment-debtor who happened to be another Judge of the High Court and his own colleague on the Bench. I had not seen the said Nawab Saheb who had retired even before I was born to the Bar. I read his reported judgments in the above case. Justice Jagan Mohan Reddy of the Hydera-bad High Court rose to be the Chief Justic of the Andhra Pradesh High Court and re-tired as a Judge of the Supreme Court. Rai Manohar Pershad and Shri Gopalraa Ekbote, the leading lights of the Hyderabad Bar retired as Chief Justices of the Andhra Pradesh High Court after winning laurels on the Bench. Justice Mohamed Ahmed Ansari of the said High Court retired as popular Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court. Shri Kumarayya, the distinguished Civilian Judge of the said Judiciary retired also as a Chief Justice of the Andhra Pradesh High Court and now adorns the Bench of the World Court at The Hague. These instances demonstrate how the judicial system of Hyderabad State cannot be said to be defective as assumed. Â This is an hour of destiny for us. We are starting with many such disadvaritages. We are however getting an opportunity to show our mettle. The example of Ram Shastri Prabhune is always cited as illustrative of an independent and fearless Judge. There is something in him which can inspire us on account of one more reason also. He was a domestic servant with the Peshwas in his early days. Once the Peshwa rebuked him by reference to his low status for having looked at his diamond studded earrings with covetous eyes. Ram Shastri took this humiliation to his heart and took a vow to be worthy of it in his own right. He worked tirelessly towards that end with single-minded devotion for 12 long years at the feet of learned men at Kashi. The Peshwas had to take notice of his learning and had to appoint him as their Chief Justice in recognition of his sheer merit. Â Sant Dnyaneshwar sought justice from the learned Pandits of Paithan who were the custodians of justice in those days. The learned men were almost drunk with power and vain-confidence in their own learning to such an extent that they could not see the patent injustice caused to Dnyaneshwar. The humiliating injustice moved him to his depth to such an extent that Dnyaneshwar even before reaching the age of 20 produced a monumental Dnyaneshwari. The generations of the last 400 years in Maharashtra have done him posthumous justice by ador-ing him as God and by recital of Dnyaneshwari in the nooks and corners of Maharashtra by way of a ritual. Â Aurangabad has been the seat of many a historical event. It has seen the rise and fall of many Kingdoms and their warriors, administrators and artists. The surroundings of Aurangabad are strewn with remnants of the achievements of these great men. These surroundings also treasure in their bossom the sculptures of Ellora and the paintings of Ajanta which have been the attraction for the tourists from every nook and corner of the world. The paintings of Ajanta reflect the subtle moods of men and women and demonstrate the depth of the imagination, patience, single-minded devotion and perseverance of the artists, the authors of these works of high order. I always love to think that lawyers and Judges have to draw inspiration even from these works of art. One important function in the Court is an exercise in reconstruction of the events for adjudicating the truth or falsehood of the claims made out of the same. Slight inaccuracy in the portrayal could prove to be fatal and result in the miscarriage of justice. The same degree of sustained and a single-minded devotion if required from a lawyer for tracing out the truth, us is required of a sculptor or a painter in portraying the subtle emotions of the human being. That these artists also were born in this soil is demonstrative of the fact that geniuses and talents cannot be the monopoly of any region, any community or any nation or any particular period of time. On the eve of the formation of this Division Court in this historical City of Aurangabad, let us turn to these great ancestors for guidance. Let us draw inspiration from them. Let us make a vow to imbibe and inculcate all the good tradi-tions of the Bombay High Court which has produced great Judges and great lawyers. With such a solemn vow of unflinching determination, it will not be difficult for us to produce lawyers of the standing of Kangas and Palkhiwalas, Jaykors and Desais and Judges of the calibre of Chaglas and Gajendrangadkars and Boses and Hidayatullas. Assurance of co-operation of officers and the members of the Bar encourage me in my hopes.

Author Name: Hon’ble Justice V S Deshpande